High Court to Address 'Partial-Birth' Abortions
By David G. Savage, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court today set the stage for a major ruling on abortion by agreeing to decide whether Congress can outlaw so-called "partial birth" abortions during the mid-term of a pregnancy.

The case, to be heard in the fall, will test whether lawmakers can strictly regulate how abortions are performed.

[cnn]

Some doctors say this surgical procedure, which they call an intact dilation and evacuation, is the safest method of ending a pregnancy because it reduces the risk of bleeding and infection. But Republican lawmakers describe it as gruesome and inhumane, and they want to make it a crime, even for otherwise legal abortions.

Six years ago, the Supreme Court struck down a similar state law banning such abortions and ruled by a 5-4 margin that it was unconstitutional to endanger a woman's health in the process of regulating abortion.

In recent months, three U.S. appeals courts voiced the same view in striking down the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act which Congress passed in 2003.

But the justices said today they will hear the Bush administration's appeal.

It argues that the judges should rely on Congress's view of the medical risks of mid-term abortions, not the court testimony of medical experts.

And Congress announced this surgical method of removing an intact fetus was "never medically indicated," despite the views of the doctors involved.

And don't miss the crux of the deal, and deal it is, as a supposedly modern (but we're not) science-based (but we're not) country sells out a majority group, women, to religion and politics. And make that BOTH Republicans and Democrats. Little difference in the desire for power.

While the doctors focused on the safety of their patients, Republican lawmakers said they were focused on the effect on the fetus.

They said this abortion procedure is inhumane because the doctor punctures and compresses the skull of the tiny fetus as it removed from the woman.

As election season heats up, and the things that really matter to the nation, like say, the war in Iraq and government secrecy and Republican Congressional scandals, start to drive the polls over to the Democratic side, we can all look forward to hearing Bill O'Reilly spitting mad over contraception parental notification, Sean Hannity screeching like a monkey with its nuts in a vice over gay marriage, and Rush Limbaugh ironically blowing out farts over broadcast decency. Man, the Rude Pundit can't wait to get to prayin'.

On my fourth morning, with the bleeding and cramping increasing, I couldnâ€™t wait any more. I called my doctor and was told that since I wasnâ€™t hemorrhaging, I should not come in. Her partner, on call, pedantically explained that women can safely lose a lot of blood, even during a routine period.

I began calling labor and delivery units at the top five medical centers in my area. I told them I had been 19 weeks along. The baby is dead. Iâ€™m bleeding, I said. Iâ€™m scheduled for a D&E in a few days. If I come in right now, what could you do for me, I asked.

Donâ€™t come in, they told me again and again. â€œGo to your emergency room if you are hemorrhaging to avoid bleeding to death. No one here can do a D&E today, and unless youâ€™re really in active labor youâ€™re safer to wait.â€? [...]

At last I found one university teaching hospital that, at least over the telephone, was willing to take me.

â€œWe do have one doctor who can do a D&E,â€? they said. â€œCome in to our emergency room if you want.â€?

But when I arrived at the universityâ€™s emergency room, the source of the tension was clear. After examining me and confirming I was bleeding but not hemorrhaging, the attending obstetrician, obviously pregnant herself, defensively explained that only one of their dozens of obstetricians and gynecologists still does D&Es, and he was simply not available.

Not today. Not tomorrow. Not the next day.

No, I couldnâ€™t have his name. She walked away from me and called my doctor.

â€œYou canâ€™t just dump these patients on us,â€? she shouted into the phone, her high-pitched voice floating through the heavy curtains surrounding my bed. â€œYou should be dealing with this yourself.â€?

The alarming erosion of any pretense of a wall between church and state here in Texas is evidenced by the state's diversion of $5 million in health care funds to evangelistic crisis pregnancy centers. Despite the standard restrictions on using public funds to proselytize, this lucrative contract is designed to funnel state money into both Protestant and Catholic CPCs, both of which have only two goals: stopping abortion and winning souls for Christ.

And now that movement is poised to go national.

The Democrats for Life of America (DFLA) is waiting in the wings with its 95-10 Initiative, a piece of omnibus legislation that, beneath a veneer of concern for women, provides federal funding for a nationwide campaign to herd women into CPCs, while imposing the so-called Woman's Right to Know laws that are shutting down access to abortion care from Minnesota to Mississippi upon every abortion-providing physician in the 50 states.

Federal Funding for Toll-Free Number/National Public Awareness Program
Enact an advertising campaign in each state to provide a toll free number that will direct a woman to organizations that provide support services for pregnant women who want to carry their children to term and/or direct women to adoption centers.
*Organizations that qualify for the referral from the toll-free hotline must be non-profit, tax exempt organizations that do not provide abortion referral services.

Women's Right to Know
Any women's health center or clinic that provides pregnancy counseling or abortion services must provide accurate information on abortion and the adverse side effects to a woman's health.
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Provide Ultrasound Equipment
Provide grants to nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations for the purchase of ultrasound equipment to provide free examinations to pregnant women needing such services. This equipment will be operated by licensed professionals.

It has been my own observation that "women needing such services" are the ones who are induced by a CPC's offer of "abortion aid, assistance and advice" to walk in asking for help with an abortion â€“ and that the addition of licensed professionals would be a marked improvement . . . but that is another story.

DFLA Executive Director Kristen Day makes clear that their goal is to eliminate all elective abortions in the country within 10 years after the passage of 95-10, and that government promotion and funding of CPCs is the most powerful weapon in their arsenal.

CareNet, a nationwide network of crisis pregnancy centers, has also endorsed the 95-10 initiative, with President Kurt Entsminger applauding the proposal's focus on pregnancy resource centers. Legislation arising from the initiative would require abortion centers to inform women of the adverse effects of abortion, and pregnancy counseling centers to provide adoption referral information.

The stated goal of cutting abortions by 95 percent is not an arbitrary aim born of ambition, Ms. Day said, as she stated that 5 percent of abortions are performed due to rape, incest, or maternal health concerns, and that eliminating those in a decade is not realistic.

The DLA (sic) Web site lists six Democratic congressmen and one senator as vocally supportive of the 95-10 initiative.
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Should the initiative hiccup at the federal level, DLA plans to promote it state by state, but Ms. Day is optimistic: â€œSix months ago Democrats wouldnâ€™t even talk about abortion. Now weâ€™re beginning to have a dialogue.â€?

The pilot program for state by state imposition of the 95-10 Initiative is about to be up and running in Florida â€“ where, in 2004, the then-president of the state's chapter of DFLA, Valerie Mierzwa, called John Kerry the "Hitler of the Unborn." The Florida initiative will be propelled by a savvy operation that makes our CPC initiative here in Texas look like a home-grown outfit. The winner of Florida's $3 million contract is Care Net, a CPC powerhouse with over 800 affiliates in North America.

STERLING, Va., Feb. 3 /Christian Wire Service/ -- Care Net announced Thursday an unprecedented development regarding the use of marketing and a unique 24-hour call center to help women facing unplanned pregnancies find alternatives to abortion. The State of Florida has allocated $2 million to fund a new program to promote alternatives to abortion and support the work of pregnancy centers throughout Florida. This new program will be administered by the Florida Pregnancy Care Network (FPCN). The Option Line call center, jointly owned and operated by Care Net and Heartbeat International, has been retained by the FPCN to serve as the official call center for this new state program. The Option Line (800-395-HELP) currently receives more than 10,000 calls, e-mails, and instant messages per month from women across North America who are facing an unplanned pregnancy. Now, it will be expanded to serve an even greater number of women in Florida and connect them with the help of a local pregnancy center.

Care Net President Kurt Entsminger praised the State of Florida and those involved in the initiative for its innovation and efficiency. â€œBy utilizing the Option Line, this program will involve a call center that has proven effectiveness in meeting the task at hand: caring for women facing unplanned pregnancy, connecting them with local help, and ultimately, helping to reduce the number of abortions.â€? Research shows that seven out of ten women who contact the Option Line are considering abortion. After visiting pregnancy centers, most women will choose to carry their pregnancy to term. â€œCare Net is enthusiastic about this new program, which allows meaningful participation by faith-based organizations. We believe that if this program is tested over time, we will see a significant reduction in the number of abortions in the state of Florida.â€?

The FPCN will launch an advertising campaign modeled after Option Line marketing efforts. English and Spanish commercials as well as Internet ads will promote a newly-created Florida 1-800 number that will ring directly into the Option Line call center in Columbus, Ohio. All Florida pregnancy centers currently receiving phone calls through the Option Line will be immediately eligible to receive phone calls made to the new 1-800 number.
:::
The Florida program will also involve the reimbursement of qualified pregnancy centers for counseling services that abide by Floridaâ€™s faith-based initiative guidelines. The FPCN will allocate the state funds to those pregnancy centers that wish to participate and have been trained and approved by the FPCN.

An example of the way that paid search marketing can effectively stretch a ministry's advertising dollars is the work being done via Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing by Care Net, which runs a national crisis pregnancy hotline. Kurt Entsminger, the president of Care Net, shares that since the mid-90's Care Net had relied primarily upon billboards, television and Yellow Pages as the primary means of promoting its hotline. The cost per call from their marketing efforts ranged from $15 to $80. Care Net considered any campaign with a cost per call of less than $25 to be successful. Since the company adopted paid search marketing last year, they have seen their ppc-related cost per call drop to just $5.

Entsminger explains that the benefits of paid search advertising go beyond lowering marketing costs. "Not only is Internet advertising producing calls at much less expense, it is also proving most successful in reaching our target audience of women in crisis pregnancies."

No, never let it be said that Kurt Entsminger doesn't understand marketing. Last year Care Net announced a partnership with Interstate Batteries that has seen Care Net profit from expanding its national exposure through NASCAR-related sponsorship â€“ and instead of paying for that endorsement in the customary manner, Care Net is receiving a large share of its co-sponsor's profits.

This fall, Interstate Batteries and Care Net have teamed up to launch "Charged for Life," a new fundraising campaign to help support the work of pregnancy centers across the U.S. and Canada. The strategic partnership was kicked off at the NASCAR race in Martinsville, Va. where the Interstate Batteries car featured Care Net's name and logo.
"Interstate Batteries is a great role model for companies seeking to make a difference in local communities," said Care Net President Kurt Entsminger.

Only last year, Entsminger expressed doubt about the ability of Care Net to take government money in Florida without compromising its "evangelistic goals."

Mr. Entsminger told WORLD that in the past Real Alternatives "has excluded evangelical centers all together." Mr. Bagatta said that's because until last summer federal guidelines prohibited the group from distributing funds to "centers that proselytize." Under new guidelines from the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, Mr. Bagatta said Real Alternatives would be able to include evangelistic care centers, as long as counselors separate pregnancy counseling from evangelism sessions.

Mr. Entsminger said he's pleased with the development and hopes the same thing could happen in Florida. "We're not asking the government to pay for our religious activities," he said. "But we do want to see programs that allow for maximum participation from all pregnancy care centers, including centers committed to evangelism."

Lt. Gov. Jennings said the Florida program would aim for maximum participation. When asked if the Bush administration would have any reservations about explicitly evangelistic centers, Ms. Jennings replied: "Are you kidding? Not this administration."

Yes, apparently that pesky legal division between church and state is longer a problem. And considering how heavy the Care Net catalogue is on Biblical materials and antiabortion propaganda, what a blessing that is for Care Net's volunteer "consultants," who can continue to "be the hands and feet of Jesus."

Despite Care Net's slick and shiny PR campaigns, their fundamental message hasn't changed: abortion is dangerous, God hates it, and if you have an abortion, you WILL be sorry.

A number of Care Net-affiliated centers offer an online Post-Abortion Stress Test featuring over 40 indicative "symptoms" in three categories, ranging in severity from "disappointment" and "weight gain" all the way to frankly alarming signs of possible mental instability such as "fear of having a deformed child, fear of God's punishment, feeling the presence of the aborted child." Put a checkmark next to any one of these â€“ even the mildest and most ambiguous -- click the button labeled "Take the test," and a pop-up window informs you that "You ... may have a mild form of post-abortion stress. Call us today at 1-800-595-5753 if you would like to speak in person with someone about post-abortion syndrome."

Here's this week's reproductive rights news brought to you by the women of Our Word (and at least one of the guys!). If you see something you find relevant please email it to me, bayprairie at gmail dot com

The National Abortion Federation is Launching a Blog, "The Saporta Reporter," on February 13.

On February 13, the National Abortion Federation will launch our first-ever web-log. Entitled "The Saporta Reporter" the blog will keep pro-choice supporters up to date on all the latest in the pro-choice world. Vicki Saporta, the NAF president and CEO, decided that a blog was the ideal way to keep NAF members, donors, and activists informed about all the pro-choice news thatâ€™s happening around the world. Vickiâ€™s blog will offer frequent updates on news items, NAF programs, as well as stories from the women, doctors, and activists in the pro-choice world.

Duna, Ethiopia -- Yemmi Samta didn't know that her 14-year-old-daughter, Saron, was pregnant until she found her unconscious and bleeding profusely on the dirt floor of her ramshackle house.

Samta begged a neighbor to load Saron onto a donkey cart and take her to the nearest clinic, 12 miles away. But the girl died on the way from septicemia, a form of blood poisoning, and loss of blood caused by an illegal abortion.

"I held her and pleaded to God not to take her," Samta recalled. "God took her to his arms, and I saw the life go from her body."

Saron's death represents a staggering reality about women and mortality in Africa. African women have a 1 in 16 chance of dying while pregnant, according to a report released last month by the World Health Organization, the United Nations Population Fund and UNICEF.

And for the last five years, George W. Bush and his most reliable political backers â€“ the powerhouse organizations of the Religious Right â€“ have ensured that it stayed that way.

What liberalrob doesn't seem to realize is that what he dismisses as "ideological purity" is actually a matter of life and death. liberalrob and friends seems to think that the Democrats must avoid taking stances, even in matters of women's survival.

The problem is that when reproductive rights are positioned as "special interests" -- one of several Republican-forged labels that so many Democrats and party-line supporters have adopted without question -- then they can be dismissed as not important, down at the level of tax breaks for ball-bearing manufacturers and pork-barrell contracts for rubber companies.

It's a way of dismissing human rights -- or at least women's human rights -- as unimportant.

Of course, one of many possible explanations for this kind of attitude is that these ostensibly well-intentioned folks simply cannot see the implications of their attitudes due to male privilege. They have not had to negotiate their rights over their own bodies with the government. They have not had to consider legal implications over healthcare choices. And they certainly have not had to weigh the decision of whether or not to abort a pregnancy.

Other folks like to consider abortion as "something other people do" -- until it comes to their own lives and own decisions. And so it's easy to say, "Icky," and then judge all others who have to face such situations.

What's striking is how the Democratic retreat from reproductive rights has been part and parcel of a larger flight from any stances at all that might get labeled as "liberal" or "progressive." It's been going on for at least 18 years, since when Michael Dukakis ran away from George Bush the Elder's accusation that the Democrat was "a Liberal!"

And the Democrats have been losing ever since.

Now liberalrob and friends offer a profound prescription to reverse this trend: More of the same, only with more vehemence, employing right-wing frames, right-wing labels, and right-wing ideology.

What they miss is that the real lesson to take away from the "conservative revolution" is that "conservatives" engaged in the war of ideas. They offered up ideas, plans, visions of the future. And they have offered up simplistic, unrealistic and even delusional "moral values" frames for social issues. And the Democrats have refused to respond, refused to engage in this war of ideas.

And now we have a Democratic Party that cannot stand together for much of anything. They are so diluted that they cannot agree. They come out with a tired slogan, something like "Together America can do better" (I honestly cannot remember), and call it a plan. And whenever someone stands up and takes a moral stance, a dozen others go onto talk shows to say, "So-and-so doesn't speak for me."

And so the Democratic Party does not speak for me. And it's been that way for quite a while now. Oh, I tend to vote Democrat more than Republican, mainly because the Republicans have become modern-day fascists in love with authoritarian government, but I could not stomach registering as Democrat, and I sure won't be donating to them.

HB1216 would have allowed women to sue abortion doctors for negligence if they later developed problems that they believed were linked to their abortions and felt they had not been fully informed about those problems.

The bill, which was killed 8-5 by the House Judiciary Committee, also would have required an abortion doctor to have patient admitting privileges at a nearby hospital if a woman needed emergency care.

The bill is legally questionable because it would set up two classes of doctors in South Dakota, said Dave Gerdes, lobbyist for the South Dakota Medical Association.

"It's completely unreasonable and unworkable," he said.

If heart surgeons had to meet the same requirements as those proposed for doctors who do abortions and had to worry about later getting sued for failure to inform patients of some potential risks, heart surgery would stop in South Dakota, he said.

"Not only is it illegal, but it's grossly unfair," he said of the bill.

Kate Looby, state director of Planned Parenthood, characterized HB1216 as a bill designed to harass those who do abortions.

"It's about forcing abortion doctors out of South Dakota by passing laws that are nearly impossible to comply with," she said.Democrats should take note. Forced-pregnancy candidates are not a winning plan. And further retreat from progressive values embracing civil and human rights is not going to win anything but sour grapes and resentment.